1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to flat panel displays. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to a liquid crystal display device and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device is a display device for displaying an image using electro-optical properties of liquid crystals, in which light transmittance varies depending on the intensity of an electric field. The liquid crystal display device includes a plurality of pixels defined by gate lines and data lines, which are arranged to intersect each other. Each pixel includes a pixel electrode and a color filter. The pixel electrode is driven by a thin film transistor.
The liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate and a second substrate facing each other. The thin film transistor and the pixel electrode are formed on the first substrate. When the thin film transistor is turned-on, a channel is formed and a data signal is transmitted to the pixel electrode. An organic layer is formed on the thin film transistor so as to achieve planarization. The organic layer includes an opening so that the data signal is transmitted to the pixel electrode.
Research into increasing the resolution of liquid crystal display devices is ongoing. As the resolution of the liquid crystal display device increases, the size of pixels is decreased. When the size of pixels is decreased in this way, the interval between data lines may gradually decrease. Thus, the opening in the organic layer is also required to be small. However, the organic layer includes a photosensitive material and may be patterned without an additional photoresist (PR). As such, taking into consideration the case where the patterning resolution of the organic layer is not sufficient, lower limitations are imposed on the size of the opening. The opening of the organic layer may expose the area that overlaps the channel. As the organic layer does not cover the area that overlaps the channel, when the common electrode is disposed on a channel without the organic layer, defects such as flicker or decoloring may occur, undesirably deteriorating display properties.